I shook my head, feeling confused. Unlike what Zhu Xuan mentioned yesterday, I didn’t notice anything weird.

“We have no choice.” Zhu Xuan sighed. “We’ll take turns and guard the old lady after dinner tonight. We must keep her safe.”

I nodded since this was also what I thought.

“Okay.”

After having dinner with Mr. Yang, we volunteered to take care of Mrs. Yang and asked Mr. Yang to rest early.

Like we discussed, Zhu Xuan and I took turns to look after her. Mrs. Yang’s condition got much better after she took the medicine. I believed that if we guarded her throughout the night like this, she would wake up the next morning, safe and sound.

However, it was just a mere wish. Even though Zhu Xuan and I stayed with Mrs.Yang by her side, that terrible incident inevitably happened again at midnight.

Without any warning, Mrs. Yang’s face turned pale and contorted, as she began making weird sounds.

“Zhu Xuan!” I stood up from the chair. Zhu Xuan woke up immediately and ran to the bed.

“She’s poisoned. Hurry, Gu Yu, go and get my bag!” Zhu Xuan shouted.

“Okay!” Without hesitation, I ran out of the room to fetch Zhu Xuan’s bag. I heard Zhu Xuan whispering to her,m “It doesn’t matter how, but hold on, please hold on!”

I got Zhu Xuan’s bag as fast as I could, but when I rushed into the room, Zhu Xuan had already stood up. He lowered his head, while Mrs. Yang lay on the bed. Her body had become stiff and that contorted expression was frozen on her face.

Zhu Xuan shook his head and whispered, “It’s too late. She’s gone.”

“How did this happen..”I murmured, put down the bag and walked towards the bed.

Things had happened so fast. In just a blink of an eye, a person died on our watch. My rage, like a strong wave, almost engulfed me, but before I was able to let it out, I noticed that Zhu Xuan had tightly clenched his fists.

“I’ll catch the culprit. I swear, I will cut him into pieces,” Zhu Xuan said coldly.

Mr. Yang heard the noise and quickly ran into the room, and then it was like a replay of the previous night, all over again. I couldn’t bear to watch this moment of parting again. I walked outside and took a deep breath of the cold night air.

What is going on here?

I sat in the courtyard, staring blankly at the black sky full of shining stars. The only thing on my mind was the deep sadness and pain I felt.

Human life was so fragile; even though Zhu Xuan and I tried our best to protect her, she still died in front of us.

As if she was a worm, which was so vulnerable that anything could kill it. And because of that, my hatred for the murderer reached its peak.

Even if, as Zhu Xuan said, the perpetrator could be a human or a monster, he should be shredded into thousands of pieces nonetheless for taking an innocent life without remorse.

However, no matter how much I hated the perpetrator, I couldn’t do anything except gnashing my teeth and cursing that person in my heart. For now, we had no clues on how to find the killer.

Just as I got lost in my thoughts, I heard something crack next to my feet. I was startled and looked down, it seemed that I had accidentally kicked something.

I bent down and picked it up from under the table. It was a ceramic bowl.

A bowl? Why was it here? And why did this bowl look so familiar?

At the same time, I smelt an unpleasant odor coming from the bowl.

This smell, was it..

If my guess was right, it would explain everything!

I immediately stood up from the chair. I had to tell Zhu Xuan.

However, just as I was about to find Zhu Xuan, I began to feel extremely drowsy. I staggered and lost my balance and sat back on the chair.

Damn.. I feel so sleepy. It was so hard to keep my eyes open.

Just like that, I fell asleep.

As expected, I was awakened by the cold wind the next morning. As soon as I opened my eyes, I sneezed three times.

If this situation continued, I would freeze to death due to the cold wind before being driven mad by this time loop.

Oh, where is Zhu Xuan?

With no surprise, when I looked back, I saw Zhu Xuan lying next to me. Apparently, he was awakened by my sneeze, and now he was staring at me as if he was really displeased.

I said bitterly, “You won’t catch a cold, so stop complaining.”

Zhu Xuan got up. He dusted his clothes with his eyebrows knitted. “So we’re back here once again?”

I took out my phone to check the date. Yes, it was December 23rd.

“Although the loop began again, we learned something useful.” Zhu Xuan smiled. His expression showed that he was sure. “At least after yesterday, I already have a suspect.”

Hearing this, I suddenly remembered what I found last night.

“Me too!” I said immediately.

“Oh?” Zhu Xuan was surprised and asked, “Who is it?”

I looked at Zhu Xuan and said two words, “.. Soup bowl.”

Zhu Xuan’s eyes lit up, I knew instantly that we suspected the same person.

Just at that moment, the door opened. Like yesterday, Mr. Yang popped his head out.

“Ah, aren’t you the young man that visited my clinic a few days ago? Come in, come in. Is this your friend? Come on in!”

This time, before Zhu Xuan could say something, I opened my mouth first.

“I’m his friend, and I’m also the Taoist priest he invited to exorcize demons and spirits. I foresaw the future that there would be a great tragedy in your family, so I rushed over to help. Is your wife suffering from a strange disease? Is she unable to get up and can’t eat or drink anything?”

Mr. Yang’s mouth was wide open. He nodded subconsciously, and I gestured at him.

“Go and get me a brush pen, paper, and ink. I will draw some charms. You can paste them on each wall of her room. They will help you get rid of the evil spirits.”

Zhu Xuan snickered while watching this. Mr. Yang fetched a brush pen, paper, and ink after a short while. I freely drew some apples on the paper, which looked uglier than before, and handed them over to Mr. Yang.

He looked at those ugly drawn charms for a while. I interjected before he asked,

“You can stop looking at them, they’re apples,” I said firmly.

He looked at me speechlessly.

“Why are you still standing here?” I prompted. “Go and paste the charms.”

“Okay, okay!” Mr. Yang grabbed the paper and ran inside.

Zhu Xuan couldn’t keep the straight face anymore and laughed. “Hahaha.. Gu Yu, I told you before, you have the talent to be a swindler.”